How do you like those odds?

Image by jasoneppink via Flickr

1 in 110. With an adjustment for cell phone versus land line use. Those appear to be our new odds of having a child with Autism. NPR reports in its' blog that there appears to be an increase, but no one knows what that means.

Can I say something as a parent and advocate of special needs children? Well, duh! Welcome to our world. People may disagree about why it happens, what happens exactly, or how to deal with it, but, one thing remains the same, we all know it's happened a lot.

Several facts come to mind now as I write this. First, we put only a fraction of our research dollars into autism's cause. Second, special education services are cut far too often when our autistic children's numbers are increasing. Third, bureaucrats and scientists spend way too much time debating stupid things like whether we put mercury in flu shots or 15 minutes of social instruction v. 5. Can we announce now that everyone is on the same page?